


1,000 Oceans

by Evil_Little_Dog



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist
Genre: Angst, Community: fanfic_bakeoff, Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-21
Updated: 2011-03-21
Packaged: 2017-10-17 04:38:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/172986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evil_Little_Dog/pseuds/Evil_Little_Dog
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Summary:  Edward Elric doesn't like tears.<br/>Disclaimer:  Arakawa owns all, Bones pays her rent.  I'm just riding a feather.<br/>Warning:  Post That-Movie fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1,000 Oceans

X X X

Edward Elric hated tears. A crying woman made his stomach clench up, made him feel frantic, made him want to do something, anything, so he didn’t have to watch her cry. Usually, he showed a stoic’s face at the sight of tears, or turned his head away, possibly tsking, though not necessarily at the tears but rather, his inability to make them stop.

He hated distorted faces, drawn with misery and choked sobs, swallowed more often than released in wails to pierce the sky. He hated reddened eyes, and the salty tracks left behind when the tears stopped. He hated handkerchiefs to blot the snot and wipe the eyes. Tears were the fastest, easiest way, to turn him into an automaton, unable to cope with the onset of emotions.

Al was the one who comforted, who provided handkerchiefs, who dried tears and patted backs and provided shoulders. Ed wouldn’t – couldn’t – do it. When his brother asked, he spun a tale about how he was bad at it, how unmanly it was, or even stomped off, leaving Al’s question hanging in the air.

Ed couldn’t tell his brother how women’s tears reminded him of her, of Winry, of how often she’d cried for him, over him, over them both. He couldn’t say how he hoped her tears had dried, that she didn’t cry for them any more, because, in some dark, secret place inside of him, he hoped – how childish and cruel! – she always would.

But Ed couldn’t tell Al his reasons for not comforting a crying woman. It wasn’t the tears that left him cold, it was the realization he’d never tried to comfort Winry at all, and it wasn’t right he offer that kind of support to someone else, when he’d never given it to his best friend.

X X X


End file.
